With their new release, Into The Herd (Off/MoonJune) , The Wrong Object make a return to center stage, with a studio album of original compositions showcasing a variety of fresh, powerful material. After 15 years of an existence marked by extensive touring, recording and numerous collaborations with international jazz and rock luminaries (Elton Dean, Harry Beckett, Annie Whitehead, Alex Maguire, Stanley Jason Zappa, Ed Mann, Robin Verheyen), The Wrong Object ventures further into hybrid musical territories, pushing the boundaries of progressive jazz, rock and contemporary music. Perhaps the influence of the late Frank Zappa has never been more apparent. The songs continually weave, duck, dart, and ‘stop on a dime’; while exhibiting the “controlled reckless abandon” and a similar zany, humorous approach to both harmony and melodic/thematic motifs, akin to that which characterized his work. This is a herculean effort; one that goes a long way in filling the very noticeable long-standing void left in the wake of Zappa’s departure.

Monday, February 18, 2019

Recorded in April of 2017, this guitar duet album is a particularly special and unusual one. Like Kaiser’s 1979 classic WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE duet album with Fred Frith, this Kaiser-Kutner recording breaks new ground in an unceasingly entertaining manner. Composed of duets on instruments with coursed pairs of strings, acoustic and electric 12-strings and 8-string bass, the music occupies very unique sonic territories.John “Drumbo” French originally suggested that the two might find a fruitful recording collaboration together. Kutner plays guitar in Drumbo’s current MAGIC BAND, and Drumbo and Kaiser have collaborated for 40 years. A tip of the hat to the music of the original BEEFHEART MAGIC BAND occurs in the duo’s surprising cover of GLIDER from THE SPOTLIGHT KID. The bulk of the duets are improvisation, recorded live in real time.

11 remarkable and beautiful experiments, using a variety of 12-string guitars.
Beautiful.

Sunday, February 17, 2019

Instrumental Riff-Rock Masters APE SHIFTER To Release Sophomore Album APE SHIFTER II Since releasing their self-titled debut in March 2017, APE SHIFTER have completed two European club tours encompassing Germany, Switzerland, and The Netherlands. They have shared the bill with Loudness, The Skull, White Cowbell Oklahoma, and Mörglbl, among others. Festival performances have included Zytanien (main stage), Burg Herzberg Festival, OBOA, Free n Easy, Festival Kult!, and others.
On Friday, March 29, 2019, APE SHIFTER release their follow-up album to their debut with their sophomore release APE SHIFTER II.
From rockin' 70's riffs played with punk rock ferocity to creeping metal grooves and all out bashers, APE SHIFTER give new meaning to intense simian instrumental rock from the nasty pits of the Hellabrunn Zoo.

Scheduled for the first of March, the second Ni album has just been released.
"Pantophobie".
Eleven tracks, all with 'phobie' in the title.
The first track is called 'Phonophobie' and is 15 seconds of silence. How appropriate.
All the other tracks combine strange rhythms with heavy guitar lines.
Supberb music in a beautiful package.
Great !!

Tony Levin :With the passing of the wonderful musician Ayub Ogada, it seemed right to share this duet. Recorded at Real World Studios by David Bottrill, Ayub played his nyatiti and sang, while I did some funk fingers bass and sang harmony. A train went by while we were running the song down, which inspired the title, and engineer Tchad Blake kindly donated his recording of that train, which we inserted into the take. It's from my World Diary CD.